Sant Dnyaneshwar was the son of Vitthal Govind Kulkarni and Rukmini who lived in Apegaon; a town near Paithan. Dnyaneshwar attained education from Nivruttinath,his elder brother, and mastered the philosophy and techniques of kundalini yoga.Muktabai and Sopandeo were his younger siblings.

He was only 15 years old when he completed his literary work on the Bhagvat Gita under the guidance of Nivruttinath. This literary work is known as Dnyaneshwari.It was written in Marathi.

After completing the Dnayneshwari, he wrote Pasaydan in which he prayed to God for the well being of mankind. He believed that a person could not be liberated unless he attained the true and divine knowledge of brahma. He advocated devotion guided by knowledge. He composed about 1200 abhangas, using different ideas for each abhanga. After completing Amritanubhava, in which he stated his views about yoga and philosophy, he went to northern India with many other saints.

On returning back from his pilgrimage, he decided to enter into a state of Samadhi, as he felt that the mission of his life had been completed. Thus at the age of 21, on the 13th day of the second half of Kartik in Shaka 1218, Sant Dnyaneshwar attained the state of Samadhi at Alandi.